is this right???

joyce2009

My 11 years old daughter came home from school the other day in bad form, the reason ,a dog had been wandering around the school yard during small break time,very friendly and obviously someones pet as it had a collar and tag. The dog was caught and tied up at the back of the school and left.
An hour or so later my daughter asked her teacher if she could give him some water as it was a hot day and there was no shade or water for him,,her teacher refused until some others agreed and the teacher eventually let her get some for him.
Now I know that the school is worried the a child might get hurt by the dog but he did have a tag and a phone call to the owner wouldn't have taken too long,,it's life that a dog would follow its child to school some time these things happen but i think to leave a dog tied up for the whole day is cruel and its also upsetting for the kids to see..

Calhoun

joyce2009 wrote: »

My 11 years old daughter came home from school the other day in bad form, the reason ,a dog had been wandering around the school yard during small break time,very friendly and obviously someones pet as it had a collar and tag. The dog was caught and tied up at the back of the school and left.
An hour or so later my daughter asked her teacher if she could give him some water as it was a hot day and there was no shade or water for him,,her teacher refused until some others agreed and the teacher eventually let her get some for him.
Now I know that the school is worried the a child might get hurt by the dog but he did have a tag and a phone call to the owner wouldn't have taken too long,,it's life that a dog would follow its child to school some time these things happen but i think to leave a dog tied up for the whole day is cruel and its also upsetting for the kids to see..

I think in a way it was right to be honest, the blame for this is being shifted towards the teacher when realisticly you should be looking at the owner of the dog. If reading this forum has taught me anything its that if you own a dog you must be responsible for its behavior and not expect others to do it for you.

I dont believe any responsible dog owner would allow their dog to wander and follow a child to school, what would happen if the dog was a. run down or b . bit a child it didnt know.

As for the teacher his/her job is to teach the class not look after someone elses dog. I would say the reluctance to go near the dog was due a. it was probably being handled by someone else, unless you spoke with the people at the school how would oyu know and b. with the claim culture in Ireland at the moment i would say the teacher was being safety consious in case something happened.

I am not saying its right either the dog should have been looked after but i dont believe all the blame should be shifted on to the teacher of the school.

anniehoo

Theres no excuse for not giving the dog water though. I could understand why the teacher didnt want anything to do with it, god knows what parents would sue etc if a child was bitten. But, the school tied the dog up..it didnt tie itself up. It shouldve been given water, confined (if necessary) and the owners phoned seeing as it had a tag on. Its not rocket science.

Calhoun

I would assume the school tied the dog up for safety reasons in the morning, how do you know that they didnt attempt to call the owner? Maybe they did but the owner didnt respond?

I agree it should have been given water ect but i think if you are looking for a who to blame answer here should it not be the owner?

joyce2009

the headmaster does not call the owners,(whose fault it is of course) but the reason he ties up the dog is (a) so no child gets hurt,,and (b) generally the dog is belonged to a child in the school and when the child sees its dog tied up it is a lesson learned,,,,,This i was told by a member of staff. My annoyance about this whole thing is that the dog is being miss treated by being left in the sun with no water for a few hours. This isn't the first time its been done and my children, who've been raised around animals and taught to treat them right, get very upset when they see this,,

dee o gee

I can understand them tying the dog up and being reluctant to let the kids near it incase he bit, but thats no excuse for not giving it any water or ringing the owner any of the teachers could do that, it only takes a minute to fill a bowl of water!

The thing about the headmaster trying to teach the child a lesson by seeing his dog tied up is cods wollop, that doesn't teach a child anything just thats its ok to tie a dog up all day without water, if this is an ongoing problem he should either talk to the parents or if that fails then call the dog warden, and I would suggest saying that to him.

On another note, I remember being in national school beside a housing estate where many dogs were roaming, often they would come into the school even the classrooms sometimes, remember one little terrier nicked my sandwich from my bag once!:D Also remember at lunchtime once there was this little dog that had gotten his paw stuck in a fence at the side of a house, a few of the kids mounted a rescue operation to free him!:D Also in secondary school I carried a dog lead in my bag at all times because of dogs coming into the school, luckily we had a secretary that loved animals because she often ended up with them in her office!!:D

dmy1001

i don't know but i would imagine if a dog comes onto your property and you tie it up for a period of time it may become your responsibility??? just a thought.

I do agree with Calhoun, it is the owner who is completely at fault for allowing a dog loose to follow a child to school.
If this is being done on a regular basis i can understand the school's frustration at that.
Speak directly to the headmaster about the water and shade etc or any other concerns and things you are annoyed about. Perhaps he is not an animal person and has no idea of what a dog needs? those people are out there too.

If it were me and a dog kept coming to my house i would catch him and bring him straight to a rescue..........in my eyes if he is left loose to wander, cause an accident or bite someone then he is not wanted by his family.

Leaving him without water is obviously not desirable.


:D:D at Dee O Gee and the missing sandwich!!!!

Calhoun

joyce2009 wrote: »

the headmaster does not call the owners,(whose fault it is of course) but the reason he ties up the dog is (a) so no child gets hurt,,and (b) generally the dog is belonged to a child in the school and when the child sees its dog tied up it is a lesson learned,,,,,This i was told by a member of staff. My annoyance about this whole thing is that the dog is being miss treated by being left in the sun with no water for a few hours. This isn't the first time its been done and my children, who've been raised around animals and taught to treat them right, get very upset when they see this,,

thats completely different and totally wrong, whats he teaching how to be cruel to animals?

He could achieve what he wants and teach a lesson in otherways.

Dee_animallover

Ok lets see if I have this right - someone (regardless if its a schoolteacher or the pope) ties a dog up in direct sun & denies it some water? No that is not right at all - thats cruelty :mad:

LaMortis

Just a quick thought, people here were saying that it's the owner's fault for letting a dog loose or allowing it to follow a child to school... What if the dog got loose? Duno, jumped over the fence or ran out the door? Things like that happen to everyone on some occasion.

Calhoun

LaMortis wrote: »

Just a quick thought, people here were saying that it's the owner's fault for letting a dog loose or allowing it to follow a child to school... What if the dog got loose? Duno, jumped over the fence or ran out the door? Things like that happen to everyone on some occasion.

Things like that do happen on occasion but the point trying to be made before the original poster elaborated on the circumstances was that it is still owners responsibility to make sure their dogs are secure and trained that things like that dont happen.

In the above circumstances the headmaster basically said that he was holding on to the dog to make a point and was knowingly withholding water ect so yes it was not right.

eilissinead

I really think that the school, SHOULD have given the dog water if they tied her up, they could have, once the kids were inside, tried to "shoo" the dog away...I guess it was for safety though, which was good on the schools part. I agree however that if they went to the trouble of tying the dog up....they should have given him a bowl of water!

HOWEVER!!!!! we do also have to realise that this was a primary school and we only have the childs word....and they do tend to exaggerate! When the child said there was no shade, it may just have been that she was distracted by the dog, wanted to go out to it....made a little story!

Lots of elements to this story!

joyce2009

eilissinead wrote: »

I really think that the school, SHOULD have given the dog water if they tied her up, they could have, once the kids were inside, tried to "shoo" the dog away...I guess it was for safety though, which was good on the schools part. I agree however that if they went to the trouble of tying the dog up....they should have given him a bowl of water!

HOWEVER!!!!! we do also have to realise that this was a primary school and we only have the childs word....and they do tend to exaggerate! When the child said there was no shade, it may just have been that she was distracted by the dog, wanted to go out to it....made a little story!

Lots of elements to this story!

Well in fairness my daughter is not a small child as she is 12 and i know the spot where the dogs are tied up and yes there is no shade,,I also spoke to a member of staff last year about this and she acknowledged that this happens,,..

Discodog

Calhoun wrote: »

I think in a way it was right to be honest, the blame for this is being shifted towards the teacher when realisticly you should be looking at the owner of the dog. If reading this forum has taught me anything its that if you own a dog you must be responsible for its behavior and not expect others to do it for you.


As for the teacher his/her job is to teach the class not look after someone elses dog. I would say the reluctance to go near the dog was due a. it was probably being handled by someone else, unless you spoke with the people at the school how would oyu know and b. with the claim culture in Ireland at the moment i would say the teacher was being safety consious in case something happened.

I am not saying its right either the dog should have been looked after but i dont believe all the blame should be shifted on to the teacher of the school.

It is everyone's responsibility to look after a stray animal. If we all passed the buck then nothing would ever be done.

It is amazing how, after so long people do not know or follow the law:

If an ordinary member of the public, not being a Garda or a warden, finds a dog which is a stray dog they may take possession and according to Section 13(1) “shall forthwith :-

return the dog to its owner, or
deliver the dog to a dog warden, or
detain the dog and give notice in writing containing a description of the dog, the address of the place where it was found and the address of the place where it is detained to the member in charge at the nearest Garda Station to the place where the dog was found, or to the dog warden.”

So the school must do one of the above. Many people think that it is ok to release a dog in the hope that it will find it's way home.

Sadly our schools do little to promote animal welfare. A good teacher would of explained the situation to the children & invited their advice. It would of been a great opportunity to talk about animal welfare. Teach the kids now & we won't have a dog problem in 15 years time.

Calhoun

Discodog wrote: »

It is everyone's responsibility to look after a stray animal. If we all passed the buck then nothing would ever be done.

It is amazing how, after so long people do not know or follow the law:

If an ordinary member of the public, not being a Garda or a warden, finds a dog which is a stray dog they may take possession and according to Section 13(1) “shall forthwith :-

return the dog to its owner, or
deliver the dog to a dog warden, or
detain the dog and give notice in writing containing a description of the dog, the address of the place where it was found and the address of the place where it is detained to the member in charge at the nearest Garda Station to the place where the dog was found, or to the dog warden.”

So the school must do one of the above. Many people think that it is ok to release a dog in the hope that it will find it's way home.

Sadly our schools do little to promote animal welfare. A good teacher would of explained the situation to the children & invited their advice. It would of been a great opportunity to talk about animal welfare. Teach the kids now & we won't have a dog problem in 15 years time.

look at it this way, there are many laws in Ireland that are barely followed. I would say this one barely registers in peoples mind.

You know the law because you have an interest in animal welfare but for normal joe soaps they dont know and i would guess they dont care, some could see it as not being their problem. I wonder if the teacher or principal even know about the law or care?

The point i was making before i was informed that the principal knowingly withheld water from the dog to prove a point was that the owner of the loose dog had some responsibility for the dog wandering around.

Where i was coming from was not all dog owners are responsible and have their dogs secured safely and that it should be the dog owners responsibility to ensure the dog was secured correctly in the first place.